The Pasta Guild was set up specifically for food aid within the Netherlands. The non-profit organisation provides this food aid in the form of free quality pasta for people who are most vulnerable. The Pasta Guild does this by producing quality pasta financed by the sale of pasta. For every pack of pasta sold, a pack of pasta is donated to Food Banks Netherlands.
Over the past year, we have been working on setting up our own production facility in shopping centre MegaStores The Hague. For a month, we have been doing trial runs, which has already enabled Voedselbank Haaglanden to distribute the first 1,000 bags of pasta. On 7 June at 16:00, mayor Jan van Zanen will open the new production facility.
With this production facility, the Pasta Gilde is responding to a growing need for food aid in the Netherlands. The Pasta Gilde is committed to making a positive impact on food issues in the Netherlands.
Jeroen van Rotterdam, chairman of The Pasta Guild:
‘Our new production facility allows us to produce quality pasta in large quantities and donate it to Food Banks Netherlands. This step enables us to reach more people who depend on food aid. In this production facility, we make quality slow-dried pasta and can scale up to as many as 2 million packets a year. In the Netherlands, more than 100,000 people depend on Food Banks Netherlands. Our primary focus is on providing quality food assistance to the most vulnerable in our society. In addition, we will focus on education around food production.’
Het Pasta Gilde is a non-profit foundation with ANBI status and works closely with Voedselbanken Nederland, and is sponsored by Fonds 1818, Stichting Wij en de Maatschappij, Amvest, COD, Stramark and Savills.
For more information about The Pasta Guild and its activities, visit www.pastagilde.nl (in Dutch)
Fun facts:
- The production facility in shopping centre MegaStores The Hague has an initial capacity of 1,200 kilos per day. This will enable us to provide 2,000 families with a pasta meal every day.
- At the new production facility, Het Pasta Gilde produces high-quality slow-dried pasta based on Durum Semolina wheat flour. This high-quality flour is imported directly from Italy. As a result, our pasta has more than 10% fibre.
- The Pasta Guild currently makes 4 types of pasta: Caserecce, Penne, Maccheroni and Conchigli.
- The first pasta press has a capacity of 200 kg per hour, is water-cooled and equipped with bronze moulds for better quality pasta
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